Wow, you guys are quick to help. I appreciate it.
Well, sorry to say, I fixed the issue. I went ahead and checked the events running as the posts seemed to suggest, and one of my transfers was linked up to an old map. I'm not entirely sure why it was behaving the way it did, but the important thing is that it's no longer an issue. Odd how the simplest of events can screw up the entire flow of the game, yeah?
In any case, I had a couple of scripts running that I got from here (Caterpillar, HP/MP restore at Level up, etc.) but, this was happening before I was even messing with Ruby. I think one of the reasons why this happens so often is that RMVX has this weird (helpful?) dealy that lets you move maps to different subdirectories. I think that may have played a part in it. I'll be more careful from now on. Thanks for the advice, everyone.
Cheers
roundeye